Current oncology treatment utilises X-rays for
destroying cancerous cells. Due to the wide energy deposition profile
of X-rays, damage to healthy tissue is often a side effect as they
pass through this tissue in front of and behind the area to be
treated. By contrast, in Hadron Therapy, charged particles
are used (eg Protons), which tend to deposit their energy in a
much narrower profile, that is to say they dissipate little energy in
the healthy tissue and deliver the energy to the area to be treated.
The CONFORM project at the Daresbury Laboratories
in Cheshire is currently working on a 20 MeV electron accelerator,
EMMA, to test the principle and to design a proton and carbon ion
accelerator, PAMELA for medical and many other applications. It is
expected that this research will drive next generation proton and
carbon ion beam treatment of cancers and in many other fields from
archaeology to zoology. The new non scaling FFAG technology that EMMA
aims to realise has potential applications in fields as diverse as
energy and environment, materials research, healthcare and
fundamental physics. The project is of a similar nature to the Large
Hadron Collider project at CERN in Switzerland, though much smaller
in scale and far more wide ranging in application.
Q-par Angus's involvement concerns the design,
development and manufacture of the large and complex waveguide system
including hybrids, phase shifters and high power transitions used in
the L band Accelerators for the EMMA project. The very compact, cost
effective solution was designed to meet the tight physical
constraints of the particle accelerator.
About
Q-par Angus -
Q-par Angus
Ltd. has been specialists within the microwave and RF industry for 35
years. The company has a long-standing reputation for high
performance, high quality products, innovation of design and
excellence of service. Existing products include antenna positioners,
millimetre wave components, antenna subsystems and an extensive range
of microwave antennas and feeds.
About
CONFORM Project -
The
COnstruction of a
Non-scaling FFAG
for Oncology,
Research and Medicine
The
new devices, known as non-scaling fixed field alternating gradient
accelerators – or ns-FFAG accelerators for short – will be
smaller, simpler and significantly cheaper
than the synchrotrons, and more flexible than the cyclotrons, that
are currently used in a variety of applications.
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